Heat exchanger



Dec. 26, 1939. F. M. YOUNG HEAT-EXCHANGER V Filed April 104, 1936 2Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Q MWIHmA n B aim/9g ATTORNEY F. M; YOUNG HEATEXCHANGER Dec. 26, 1939.

Filed April 10, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIQ5 INVENTOR MM ATTORNEY Fla-.11.F1610 FIGS Patented Dec. 26, 1939 V UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2Claims.

My invention relates particularly to air blast heating and coolingunits, and provides means whereby units may be readily assembled inshapes and sizes suitable for the various equipment needs, and a, devicethat will operate efiiciently.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a design whichmay bemanufactured or shipped in a number of individual sections which may beconveniently fastened together when bener and, without additional parts,to form an air passageway enclosure for the core.

Another object is to provide a. number of sections having means to passthe heating or cooling medium through groups of tubes in each section gin series, sinuously, and from the inlet to the outlet of the unitthrough loops having gaskets and bolts whereby they maybeoperativelyunited by means of these connections.

Another object of my invention is to provide a unit which will occupya'minimum space and wherein individual sections may be easily removedand replaced, and whereby very few headers may be used with which tomake up an almost innumerable number of sections of varying sizes; alsowhereby very few sections may answer with which to make units suitablefor a number of installations; thus to simplify and reduce manufacturlngand installing costs.

I accomplish one of theforegoing by means of transverse partition wallsin the headers whereby the heating or cooling liquid may pass throughcertain groups of tubes in individual sections in series, thus to doubleor triple the distance between the inlet and outlet connections of theunit to thereby-increase the speed of travel of the heating or coolingmedium, two, three or more times that of the liquid if it passed throughall of the tubes of each-section in multiple,v as is common practice.

It has been demonstrated that in sections whose tubes are divided intotwo liquid paths in series instead of one path in multiple, there willbe a gain in heat transfer capacity of around 17%, and

- spondingly smaller and still have the same capacity,-by the use of myinvention. 1

To these and other useful ends my invention consists of matterhereinafter I set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a front elevation of my improved unit comprising threesections. 5

Fig.2 is'a side elevation of the device shown in Figure 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fractional section taken on line 33 of Figure l.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side view illustrating a fraction of sections Aand B, taken on lines d4 of Figure 1.

Fig. 5 is a fractional elevation of the device shown in Figure 1,differing only inthat the unit is made of 3-pass sections andoperatively connected accordingly.

Fig. 6 is a fractional end elevation of the unitshown in Figure 5.

Fig. 7 is a top view of the unit shown in Figures 5 and 6, having aportion of one header cut away on lines 1-! of Figure 5.

Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the loop u sed'for operatively connectingone headerto another.

Fig. 9 is a top view of a screw threaded flange fitting with which tomake inlet and outlet connections to the unit.

Y Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic drawing showing the path taken by theheating or. cooling liquid when passing through a three section unithaving 3- tions designated in their entireties, by means of referencecharacters A, B and C. Each section comprises an upper header H1 and alower header ll, having a number of operatively connected 40 spacedtubes I 2 and a multiplicity of closely spaced fins l3 through'whichtubes I: extend, forming a core, the-tubes being shown as stag gered andpositioned in two rows, and secured in their openings in the headerspreferably by means of ferrules l4, asis the custom in heat -qexchangers of the class. I I

The headers are preferably cast integral and are then provided withscrew threaded openings which are in axialalignment with the tubes,

whereby a suitable tube and ferrule expanding .tool may be used tosecure the tube ends into their 7 J openings, after which screw threadedplugs 15 are used to seal theseopenings as shown fractionally on head 35in Figure 7. I provide openings I6, preferably one at each end of theheaders, with which to make suitable inlet and outlet connections to theunit and suitable connections between the sections in the followingmanner:

, For the inlet and outlet connections to a unit I preferably provideflanges IT having screw threaded openings l8; flanges l1 register withcorresponding surfaces surrounding openings l6 and are removably boundand sealed to the headers by means of suitable gaskets and cap screws inthe usual well knownmanner and as illustrated in some of the figures ofthe drawings. When no connection is needed for openings I6, I provideplates 20 which are bound and sealed to the header similar to flanges H-(see Figure '7) In Figures 1 and 2 I illustrate three 2-pass sections;that is, midway .the up er header I I provide a partition wall 2| (shownby dotted lines in Figure 1). This wall is necessarily positioned at anangle (see Figure '7) because of the staggered position of the tubes andis located to thereby provide two chambers of equal length in headers[0; thus the heating or cooling medium may entersection A at flange l1,pass downward through the tubes at one side of partition 2 I, thencethrough header I I andreturn through the tubes on the other side of thepartition.

I provide loop D having flanges 22 similar in shape to flanges l1, thechamber in this loop registering with openings '16. These loops arebound and sealed to the headers in a manner similar to flanges l1; thusit will be seen that a suitable and direct passageway from one header tothe other may be made by means of this loop as clearly illustrated inFigure 4.

.As thus illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, one end of header In in sectionA is provided with an I inlet flange H, the other end of this headerbeing operatively connected to the adjacent end of header ID in sectionB by means of loop D; the other end of header ID of section B, issimilarly connected to the adjacent end of header III in section C; thusit will be seen that the liquid entering section A through flange II,will I pass in; series sinuously, through the sections and through thetwo groups of tubes-in each section; providing twice the length oftravel and having one half the tube area in the path of the liquid, ascompared with the conventional section; therefore, with a fixed pumpcapacity, the speed or velocity of the liquid is doubled, resulting inan increased heat transfer capacity and increased efliciency, becausethe liquid is kept in a far greater state of turbulence and the tubeswill not so readily .clog or coat with lime or mud.

In order to provide means to hold the sections in spaced relation, Iprovide housing plates 25 having outwardly'extending flanges 26, plates25 being secured to the header projections 21 by means of screws orbolts 28. When the sections are assembled in a unit, flanges 26 arebolted together as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, thus forming a rigidassembly. I provide preferably, a plate 30 having inturned flanges3lwhich extend far enough to protect the corners of fins I! as indicatedin Figure 3. In this figure member 80 is shown as positioned undermember 25. I may elect to make this member in two separate angles andeither attach them permanently to member 25 "or otherwise shape andattach them to this member. Clearly if one of my sections isto be usedseparately, members 30 may be dispensed with and members 25'reversed sotheir flanges 23 will protect the fins.

Referring now to Figures 5 to 7. when a 3- pass unit is desired Iprovide each header'with a transverse partition wall as illustrated. Thepartitions 31 and 38 in the headers are positioned so as to form aninlet or outlet chamber one third the length of the header. The lowerheaders may be exactly like these upper headers except that they areturned end for end and positioned on the sections as illustrated inFigure 6, loops D being used to operatively connect the headers asillustrated in these figures. Figure clearly illustrates the path takenby the liquid through these 3-pass sections when assembled in a 3section unit. Figure 11 illustrates the path taken in a 3 section unithaving 4-pass sections. Clearly any number of 2-pass sections may bereadily operatively connected by means of loops D, the loops allbeingbetween headers I0, whereas 3-pass sections require loopspositioned alternately on opposite ends and sides of the sections asillustrated in Figures 5, 6, 7 and 10.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a simple and inexpensive meansto increase the efliciency and capacity of -heat exchangers of thepresent class; that the sections comprise each a complete operativedevice, independently or assembled in groups; that the headers arecloselyv spaced thus to cooperate with the side plates to form a neatoutward appearance, protect the core and provide a novel air passageenclosure. It will be understood that minor detail changes of headersand connections therebetween, may be adapted to my invention and thatthe sections may be used separately and made with one or more rows oftubes, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asrecited in the appended claims.

Having thus shown and described my invention, I claim: v

1. A heat exchanger unit of the class described, comprising two or moreindividual sections, each section having spaced headers and a number oftubes operatively connected therebetween, a multiplicity of closelyspaced fins through which said tubes extend, forming a core, transversepartition walls in said headers positioned to thereby separate the tubesinto a series circuit, for the passage of the heating or cooling medium,connections between the ends of said series forming a series connectionbetween said sections, inlet and outlet connections at the ends of saidlast series, whereby the cooling orheating medium will be caused to passin series through and between said sections, side channels having theirflanges turned outwardly and being secured to the ends of said'headersforming independent frames for each section, said flanges being po-.sitioned on substantially the same plane as the front and rear 'edges ofsaid headers and adjacent flanges being secured together and cooperatingwith said headers to thereby form a single.

air duct surrounding said cores, means secured to said channels beingpositioned to thereby form an airlock betweensaid cores and channels.

2. A heat exchange unit of the class described,

comprising two or more individual sections, each section having spacedheaders and a number of tubes operatively connected therebetween, amultiplicity of closely spaced fins through which said tubes extendforming a core, side'channels' having their flanges turned outwardly andbeing secured to the ends of said headers forming independent frames foreach section, the outer edges of said channels being positioned onsubstantially the same plane as the front and rear edges of saidheaders, the adjacent flanges being secured together and cooperatingwith said headers to thereby form a single air duct surrounding saidcores, transverse partition walls in certain headers positioned tothereby separate the tubes into a series circuit for the-passage of thelet connections at the ends of said series whereby the cooling orheating medium will be caused to pass in series through and between saidsections, meanssecured to said channels being positioned to thereby forman air lock be- 5 tween the cores and channels.

mm M. YOUNG.

